ng, which, indeed, I always cherished, I won upon his confidence
so far, that he became much more communicative than the peasantry in
those quarters are generally wont to be to strangers.

From him I learned that there was a company of dragoons in William's
service, quartered at Willaloe; but he could not tell whether the
passage of the bridge was stopped by them or not. With a resolution, at
all events, to make the attempt to cross, I approached the town. When
I came within sight of the river, I quickly perceived that it was so
swollen with the recent rains, as, indeed, the countryman had told me,
that the fords were wholly impassable.

I stopped then, upon a slight eminence overlooking the village, with
a view to reconnoitre and to arrange my plans in case of interruption.
While thus engaged, the wind blowing gently from the west, in which
quarter Limerick lay, I distinctly heard the explosion of the cannon,
which played from and against the city, though at a distance of eleven
miles at the least.

I never yet heard the music that had for me half the attractions of that
sullen sound, and as I noted again and again the distant thunder that
proclaimed the perils, and the valour, and the faithfulness of my
brethren, my heart swelled with pride, and the tears rose to my eyes;
and lifting up my hands to heaven, I prayed to God that I might be
spared to take a part in the righteous quarrel that was there so bravely
maintained.

I felt, indeed, at this moment a longing, more intense than I have the
power to describe, to be at once with my brave companions in arms, and
so inwardly excited and stirred up as if I had been actually within five
minutes' march of the field of battle.

It was now almost noon, and I had walked hard since morning across a
difficult and broken country, so that I was a little fatigued, and in
no small degree hungry. As I approached the hamlet, I was glad to see in
the window of a poor hovel several large cakes of meal displayed, as if
to induce purchasers to enter.

I was right in regarding this exhibition as an intimation that
entertainment might be procured within, for upon entering and inquiring,
I was speedily invited by the poor woman, who, it appeared, kept this
humble house of refreshment, to lay down my pack and seat myself by a
ponderous table, upon which she promised to serve me with a dinner fit
for a king; and indeed, to my mind, she amply fulfilled her engagement,
supplying me abund